His objections intensified. The other knife leaving trails of oozing red behind wherever it scraped skin.

"You want me to stop?" His forehead glossed with sweat, droplets running down his blemished face. He nodded desperately. "But," She laughed. "You didn't stop when all the other girls asked you."

The knife tore across his chest and his body jerked forward, fingers clenching and unclenching at the pain searing through them. "You surely didn't stop when my mother asked you," she stabbed his thighs with two others. His screeches and wails increased. "You didn't stop when Eleanor asked you."

Two other knives pierced his arms. His curses turned to pleas.

Aurora pushed the chair and he plummeted to the floor, fastened to it with metallic blades. His back arched from the collision, finally able to spit out the cloth. "How did you get in here?" He wheezed.

She laughed. "As great as your security is, you need to be more cautious."

Mark was worshipped. His presence was beyond profitable to whoever sought wealth. So, no one dared harm him in any way. "You're not invincible unlike what you seem to think. Your dogs are getting wiped outside. Don't worry, you'll meet up together in hell." Her foot descended on his abdomen.

He coughed. "Who are you?"

Her leg pressed harder, her expression darkening. "If you haven't burned down our place that night, there'd have been more resemblance between us." She tutted, holding her gun to his chin. Her healed burns from that day ached. He stuttered.

"You're Joshua's daughter?" She laughed, humorlessly. I wish I was. To him, that's the only way they'd share physical similarities. Her eyes skimmed over him one last time. Same dark hair, albeit his greying a bit, fair skin, though his was covered in blood, and the same shape of nose and eyes. Her eyes were blue like her mother's. Mouth curvier, feminine, sweeter.

His eyes rolled back before he forced them to focus on her again. "How does it feel to have your own daughter threaten to kill you?" He gasped, struggling for air and words. "I know. Pretty outrageous, isn't it?"

Connecting the dots, Mark spluttered. "How...Eleanor...she wasn't pregnant...no!" His body thrashed. He'd always come stumbling in her room intoxicated, drunk or high. He never cared about nothing but himself.

Her irritation grew, anger boiling. Her fingers gripped his collar tightly, tugging, choking. He heaved, head reddening, veins prominent, stab wounds stretching.

A strangled scream satisfied her. The knives were pushed deeper inside and he squirmed in vain, his movements only causing more pain.

Chuckling, she forced the gun inside his mouth. "Of course, you wouldn't notice. Women are just toys, a release. We're no different than toilets to you. Whenever you get the urge, you just let it go. It's no wonder that you pee and fuck with the same...organ." Her nose scrunched up at uttering such words.

Her gaze roamed his appearance. "Why?" Her knees ached from crouching for too long. "Why did you kill your brother? If you didn't know about me, why did you do it?"

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he gathered the strength to reply. "I killed his mom. So, I thought that he took away my Eleanor." His?, she burst into laughter. He thought?, tears prickled at the edges.

"So, you killed your own brother because you thought he did it?" Her bum touched the floor as she crossed her legs. "I'm clearly wasting my time with your empty sex filled head, but, do enlighten me. How did you come to such conclusions?"

A hard expression glazed over his face. "I've always loved Madeleine. But, he took her from me. I loved my father. But, father loved Joshua more." He spat out. "I loved Eleanor. The next thing I know, she vanished. Then, years later-"

"Twenty years, to be precise. You may continue." She motioned for him to go on, although, cynically.

"-I hear that Joshua helped her escape. I paid a fortune to get this information, to find her...But, nothing."

"Did it occur to you that maybe the people who got you the information lied to you?" Her eyebrow shot up and he stammered. "Ever occurred to you that...maybe, no matter how much the price you pay is...you're paying for what you want to hear not what actually happened?"

Her head moved from side to side in disbelief. "Well, dad helped her. But, that's beside the point."

He looked away, embarrassed to be preached by someone younger, his daughter precisely, while bleeding to death.

"Sounds like you were just jealous. Bottled up emotions exploded in murdering your own blood and flesh. So fucking selfish." Enraged, she punched him. "You ruined lives for your own personal insecurities." Aurora spat.

"But...I really loved Madeleine." He sputtered. A wave of nausea and anger rolled, soaking her. Unable to think clearly, she extracted another knife and it tore through his most intimate region.

"And that's why you raped her?" Teeth gritted, muscles twitching. Her words felt like millions of needles prickling her inside out.

A sharp scream chilled her and her wrist moved slowly twisting the weapon. His legs slammed shut willing her assault to end. Finding bliss in tormenting him, Aurora drove the blade deeper in.

"I'm done. I got everything." Jesse squealed snapping Aurora out of her dark thoughts.

"Good." She muttered lowly. Focusing back on Mark, his face paler, red and damp with sweat and tears, her hand grasped the gun again.

The impact of the black weapon forced him to look at her, albeit  dazedly. She asked if there was any safe in here.

"No, but, my wife has one."

Pushing herself up, Aurora decided to to let him suffer a bit longer while she paid his mistress a visit and headed to leave.

"Please, let me go. I'm sorry, honey. I'm your real father. I'm your dad. Please, I'll take care of you. Let me live..." He begged shamelessly.

Unable to hear anything coming out from his mouth anymore, her fingers hesitated for a fleeting moment before pulling the trigger. "Adiós!" Blood splattered across the floor, a bullet wedged in between his thick eyebrows. "Save me a spot by the fireplace." She repeated his exact words from that night.

Removing most of her knives, Aurora wiped them calmly on his shirt then packed them back in the front pocket of her apron, humming softly to herself.

"Rho," Aidan's worried voice snapped her out of her reverie. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Unplugging the flash drive, her flats slapped gently on the carpeted floors till she reached her destination.

Heavy moans and pants infiltrated her ears and she shuddered. "Fuck my life." She pushed the door open, her gun pointed at the couples tangled in the sheets.

"Who-" The bullet speared through his brain, or lack thereof, and his half naked body cluttered to the ground with a loud thud. The door was slammed shut before Chrissie's screams reverberated through the walls.

"Baba yaga, at your service, milady." Aurora bowed slightly, a sneer plastered on her mouth.

Chrissie stumbled out of bed, wrapped in nothing but sheets, "how dare you filthy servant-" She yelped, falling next to her lover. The trigger was pulled. Her knee throbbed, blood trickling.

"Now, now, milady. That's no way to talk to the one holding a gun, is it?" Aurora hauled the injured woman up, dragged and threw her on the wall. "Where's your safe?"

"You greedy peasants always looking for money-" a shot to the floor beside her feet startled her into changing her words. What an ironic thing to say. "Behind that painting." Her finger trembled, pointing at it.

Throwing it down, the art piece broke. "How dare you it cost-" Aurora's glare made her clamp her mouth again.

After getting the password from the unwilling naked captive, she punched in the code and the safe opened to reveal money and jewelry.

"That's all?" Aurora emptied it, everything scattered down, everywhere. "Jesse."

"Yes," Jesse answered. "The files have everything we need. There is stuff on her, too. And, we got the locations."

Nodding even though she couldn't see her, Aurora rummaged through the scattered files.

It was about stolen jewelry, very expensive ones, hidden bank accounts everywhere. She grabbed some random bag, cramming the papers and jewels in it.

"Hey! Are you stealing my things? I can offer you a mind blowing job. You just killed my favorite fuck though-" Her body slumped, getting shot in the forehead. And, she fell over face first.

"Thank you," Gus muttered, "she was getting on my nerves."

"Same, now get out." Aidan urged.

Ignoring both, Aurora galloped downstairs, grabbed every inflammable detergents, products and tissues and watched as the match dropped, fire rousing, spreading.

"Burn," the growing flames flickered, pupils dilating.

"Rho," Aidan implored. Waltzing out, her chest felt lighter, heavier. It constricted and she clenched her shirt, right above her heart. "I see you." He murmured.

"And so do they." Her heartbeat picked up as she dashed to hide.  Aidan hissed under his breath for missing these guys. They were like ghosts.

"Hey, you. Stop!" Never stop when someone with a gun commands you to. Six guards ran after her.

Crouching behind a tree, she aimed, taking two down.

"Don't shoot; they'll know where you are." Seconds after his warning, guards tumbled down one by one. "Done, come out. Hurry up."

"Uh, Aidan. There's one guard missing." Her eyes narrowed as she counted the bodies.

"Aren't you smart?" His hands grabbed her neck, pulled her hair.

"I can't get a clear shot. Get him out from behind the tree."

"You know, I fucking hate it when people invite themselves to touch my hair." She huffed, grabbing his collar and flipping him over. His back slammed to the ground and she kicked his face. He opened his mouth to retaliate, ended up squeaking as bullets tore through his body. "Thanks, Aidan."

"Thanks Aidan," Gus mocked, "I'm by the gate."

She dashed out after one final glimpse to the crumbling house. "Karma is a bitch." Aurora muttered, grabbing her gun and bag.

"It is," they all agreed.

The tightness of her chest dissolved a bit. She glanced at Gus, driving with utmost concentration, Aidan throwing himself in with his bag slung over his shoulder and Jesse tapping away on the computer.

A lonely tear slipped, a soft smile blossomed. Their mere presence made her feel better about existing.

She lost so much, but gained a lot too. And fighting her battles with their help was an honor, a drug to her pain. If it wasn't for them, she wouldn't have made it this far or out of the the house in the first place.

A team really does operate better than a lone wolf.

Aidan grasped her shoulder gently. "This is only the beginning of the end."

** ** ** ** **